know your duty to one another, both for doing and getting that good which otherwise will be lost. Direct. 1. Love one another unfeignedly as yourselves: avoid all contention and falling out with one another, or any thing that would weaken your love to one another; especially differences about your personal interests, in point of profit, provision, or reputation.' Take heed of the spirit of envy, which will make your hearts rise against those that are preferred before you, or that are used better than you. Remember the sin and misery of Cain, and take warning by him. Give place to others, and in honour prefer others, and seek not to be preferred before them. God delighteth to exalt the humble that abase themselves, and to cast down those that exalt themselves. When the interest of your flesh can make you hate or fall out with each other, what a fearful sign is it of a fleshly mind! Direct. 11. Take heed of using provoking words against each other.' For these are the bellows to blow up that which the apostle calleth "the fire of hell c." A foul tongue setteth on fire the course of nature; and therefore it may set a family on fired. "Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." "If ye be angry, refrain your tongues and sin not, and let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil" • Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." "Revilers shall not inherit the kingdom of God"." Direct. 111. Help one another with love and willingness in your labours; and do not grudge at one another, and say such a one doth less than I: but be as ready to help another, as you would be helped yourselves.' It is very amiable to see a family of such children and servants, that all take one another's concernments as their own; and are not selfish against each other. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity i!" Direct. IV. Take heed that you prove not tempters to a Rom. xii. 10. 16. d James iii. 5, 6. Eph. iv. 31, 32. b Rom. viii. 6. 13. e Ver. 15, 16. h1 Cor. vi, 10. c James iii. 6. i Psal. cxxxiii. 1. draw each other to sin and misery.' Either by joining together in riotousness, or wronging your masters, or secret revelling, and then in lying to conceal it: or lest immodest familiarity draw those of different sexes into a snare. Abundance of sin and misery hath followed such tempting familiarity of men and maids that were fellow servants. Their nearness giveth them opportunity, and the devil provoketh them to take their opportunity; and from immodest, wanton dalliance, and unchaste words, they proceed at last to more lasciviousness, to their own undoing. Bring not the straw to the fire, if you would not have it burn. Direct. V. Watch over one another for mutual preservation against the sin and temptations which you are most in danger of.' Agree to tell each other of your faults, not proudly or passionately, but in love; and resolve to take it thankfully from each other. If any one talk foolishly or idly, or wantonly and immodestly, or tell a lie, or take God's name in vain, or neglect their duty to God or man, or deal unfaithfully in their trust or labour, let the other seriously tell him of his sin, and call him to repentance. And let not him that is guilty take it ill, and angrily snap at the reprover, or justify or excuse the fault, or hit him presently in the teeth with his own; but humbly thank him and promise amendment. O how happy might servants be, if they would faithfully watch over one another! Direct. vi. When you are together, and your work will allow it, let your discourse be such as tendeth to edification, and to the spiritual good of the speaker or the hearers.' Some work there is that must be thought on, and talked of while it is doing, and will not allow you leisure to think or speak of other things, till it is done: but very much of the work of most servants may be as well done, though they think and speak together of heavenly things; besides all other times when their work is over. O take this time to be speaking of good to one another: it is like, that some one of you hath more knowledge than the rest; let the rest be asking his counsel and instructions, and let him bend himself to do them good; or if you are equal in knowledge, yet stir up the grace that is in you, if you have any; or stir up your desires after it, if you have none. Waste not your precious time in vanity; multiply not the sin of idle words. O what a load doth lie on many a soul that feeleth it not, in the guilt of these two sins, loss of time, and idle words! To be guilty of the same sins over and over, every day, and make a constant practice of them, and this against your own knowledge and conscience, is a more grievous case than many think of; whereas, if you would live together as the heirs of heaven, and provoke one another to the love of God, and holy duty, and delightfully talk of the Word of God, and the life to come, what blessings might you be to one another? and your service and labour would be a sanctified and comfortable life to you all. "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, and may minister grace to the hear ers, and grieve not the holy Spirit of God i." "But fornica tion and all uncleannesss, or covetousness (or rather, inordinate, fleshly desire) ;let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient; but rather giving of thanks." Of this more anon. Direct. VII. Patiently bear with the failings of one another towards yourselves, and hide those faults, the opening of which will do no good, but stir up strife: but conceal not those faults which will be cherished by concealment, or whose concealment tendeth to the wrong of your master, or any other.' For it is in your power to forgive a fault against yourselves, but not against God, or another. And to know when you should reveal it, and when not, you must wisely foreknow which way is like to do more good or harm. And if yet you be in doubt, open it first to some secret friend, that is wise to advise you, whether it should be further opened or not. Direct. VIII. If weakness, or sickness, or want afflict a brother, or sister, or fellow-servant, be kind and helpful to them according to your power. "Love not in word only, but in deed and truth1." 1 Eph. iv. 29. * Eph. v. 3, 4. 11 John iii. 18. James. ii, CHAPTER XVI. Directions for Holy Conference of Fellow-servants or others. BECAUSE this is a duty so frequently to be performed; and therefore the peace and edification of Christians is very much concerned in it, I shall give a few brief Directions about it. Direct. 1. Labour most for a full and lively heart, which hath the feeling of those things which your tongues should speak of.' For 1. Such a heart will be like a spring which is always running, and will continually feed the streams. Forced and feigned things are of short continuance; the hy pocrites affected, forced speech, is exercised but among those where it may serve his pride and carnal ends: at other times, and in other company, he hath another tongue like other men. It is like a land-flood that is quickly gone! or like the bending of a bow, which returneth to its place, as soon as it is loosed. 2. And that which cometh from your hearts, will be serious and hearty, and likeliest to do good to others for words do their work upon us, not only by signifying the matter which is spoken, but also by signifying the affections of the speaker. And that which will work affections, must express affection ordinarily. If it come not from the heart of the speaker, it is not so like to go to the hearts of the hearers. A hearty preacher, and a hearty, feeling discourse of holy things, do pierce heart-deep, and do that good, which better composed words that are heartless do not. Direct. 11. Yet for all that, when your hearts are cold, and dull, and barren, do not think that your tongues must therefore neglect their duty, and be silent from all good, till your hearts be better, but force your tongues to do their duty, if they will not do it freely without constraint.' For 1. Duty is duty whether you be well-disposed to it or not: if all duty should cease when men are ill-disposed to it, no wicked man would be bound to any thing that is truly holy. 2. And if heart and tongue be both obliged, it is worse to omit both than one. 3. And there may be sincerity in a duty, when the heart is cold and dull. 4. And beginning to do your duty as well as you can, is the way to overcome your dullness and unfitness; when you force your tongues at first to speak of that which is good, the words which you speak or hear, may help to bring you into a better frame. Many a man hath begun to pray with coldness, that hath got him heat before he had done; and many a man hath gone unwillingly to hear a sermon, that hath come home a converted soul. 5. And when you set yourselves in the way of duty, you are in the way of promised grace. : Object. But is not this to play the hypocrite, to let my tongue go before my heart? And speak the things which my heart is not affected with?' Answ. If you speak falsely and dissemblingly, you play the hypocrite: but you may force yourselves to speak of good, without any falsehood or hypocrisy. Words signify as I told you, the matter spoken, and the speaker's mind. Now your speaking of the things of God doth tell no more of your mind but this, that you take them to be true, and that you desire those that you speak to, to regard them: and all this is so; and therefore there is no hypocrisy in it. Indeed if you told the hearers, that you are deeply affected with these things yourselves, when it is not so, this were hypocrisy. But a man may exhort another to be good, without professing himself to be good; yea, though he confess himself to be bad. Therefore all the good discourses of a wicked man are not hypocrisy: much less the good discourse of a sincere Christian, that is dull and cold in that discourse. And if a duty had some hypocrisy in it, it is not the duty but the hypocrisy that God disliketh, and you must forsake as if there be coldness in a duty, it is the coldness, and not the duty that is to be blamed and forborne. And wholly to omit the duty, is worse than to do it with some coldness or hypocrisy, which is not the predominate complexion of the duty. Object. But if it be not the fruit of the Spirit, it is not acceptable to God; and that which I force my tongue to, is none of the fruits of the Spirit. Therefore I must stay till the Spirit move me.' Answ. 1. There are many duties done by reason, and the common assistances of God, that are better than the total omission of them is. Else no unsanctified man should hear VOL. IV. |